Opened Eyes
by the-little-guru
Summary: I'm Rose Weasley, and I'm entering Fourth year with nothing in mind except trouncing Malfoy in all of my classes and getting the position of Keeper on Gryffindor's Quidditch team, though I suspect this year will be more eventful then I anticipated... Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: First Harry Potter fic! This takes place in the next generation, all from Rose's point of view (which is probably inflicted with OCD), and will probably be monstrously long by the end :). Rose is currently a fourth year.

* * *

"Bye!"

"Okay!"

"Love you, James!"

"Okay, mom!"

"Do your homework Rosie!"

"I will!"

"Be nice to your brother, James!"

"I know!"

"Take care of Lily!"

"I don't need to be taken care of!"

"Alright, sweetie."

"Bye Mum!"

"Bye Hugo!"

"Bye dad!"

"Bye Albus!"

"Love you!"

"Love you too!"

"Be careful!"

"I will! Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Okay, okay...Bye bye, family! Now let's go already!" said James, striding onto the train and abruptly cutting short the annual sob-fest as all of us left for Hogwarts.

My pack of cousins and I squeezed into a stupidly dinky compartment and watched our parents' faces grow smaller and smaller as the Hogwarts Express began to chug away from the station. The farewells were particularly emotional this time around, because the youngest of my family, Lily and Roxanne, were finally entering their first year. In the words of grandma Molly, 'it marked the beginning of the end, the beginning of our entire generation growing up.'

 _I'm_ entering my fourth year and I'm so excited! There would be new classes, and I could finally see my friends and Hogwarts, which is a second home of sorts I guess.

"Hey Rose, do you think you could move?" said a voice underneath me. I looked down and found that Albus was crushed awkwardly against the window.

"Sorry Al." I said, lurching backwards and bumping into someone else in the crowded compartment

"Okay, we're getting out of here!" piped Fred as he, Louis, and James rushed away, probably to do something sketchy.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I said, "I'm coming with you!"

"Go away midget!" said Fred.

"Yeah! And watch Lily for me, 'kay?" added James.

"Hold on...nevermind." I muttered. "Screw you." I added under my breath as an afterthought.

"Hey Rose." said Albus, dragging his trunk with Lily and Hugo following behind, "Dom and Molly and everyone kicked us out. Let's find seats somewhere else."

"Sure." I replied.

Albus had always been my favorite cousin, for some reason. Personality-wise, he was my polar opposite. I was loud, bossy, slapdash, opinionated, and easily obsessed with whatever came my way, be it quidditch, reading, or the Weird Sisters. On the other hand, Albus was quiet, thoughtful, systematic, and independent. He was quite an oddball in our family

Nonetheless, it was extremely shocking when he was sorted into Slytherin. After his sorting, the entire hall had been deafeningly silent, and nobody applauded until some of our cousins (who were almost all from Gryffindor) started clapping. Al looked like he was walking to the gallows when he headed for the Slytherin table.

The press had a bloody field day. Nobody in the world could believe that Harry Potter's son could possibly be a Slytherin! I felt kinda sorry for Albus though, who despised publicity and probably stuck out like a sore thumb in the snakepit. He seemed to have some friends from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but none from his own house.

Or maybe Slytherins just didn't have friends, period. Maybe friendships in their house were a liability because they were the house of wiliness and backstabbing? I couldn't understand Slytherins at all. I was a devout Gryffindor from birth.

My brother, however, was in Ravenclaw, though it wasn't that surprising that Hugo landed in the house of nerds; he was more of a bookworm than Mum even! He's even named after a character in one of Mum's favorite books, _The Invention of Hugo Cabret_. He was creative, and he learned mathematics and science the muggle way, and he was good at chess. He could outplay Mum by the time he was nine! (Not Dad though. Dad was, surprisingly, one of the best chess players I've ever met.) Everyone adored Hugo, especially Lily. Lily loved him and tailed behind him whenever our families got together, ever since she could walk.

Hugo's only flaw was that he was a huge wimp and had no coordination. He couldn't play Quidditch to save his life and his feet seemed too large and he knocked over everything. Then, he would apologize profusely, which really grated on dad's nerves.

Dad also seriously questioned Hugo's choice of friends (and his sanity) too. You see, he was friends with the Scamander twins. I didn't particularly like them because they were way too weird, and I suspect one of them might be queer. (Not that I have anything against queer people, it's just a little weird to be around them, you know?)

They were aunt Luna's children, and probably the biggest weirdos in the whole school.

In fact, there they are now, sitting in a compartment right up ahead.

"Hello Hugo. Hello everyone." said the twins in tandem, with identical drifty voices.

"Hi guys." said Hugo, "How was your summer?"

"It was excellent." said one of the twins (I can't tell if it's Lorcan or Lysander).

"Yes. We went on vacation to Africa-"

"-to the Island of Mauritius-"

"-and father helped us find diricawls-"

"-we brought back some feathers-"

"-do you want to see?"

Without waiting for a reply, they took out...nothing.

"What are we looking at?" asked Lily.

"Diricawls are flightless birds that have the ability to disappear at will." recited Hugo, "I guess if the feathers can disappear too."

Just at that moment, three long grey feathers materialized onto one of the twins hands.

"Muggles call them dodos and think they're extinct." said one of the twins,

"But they've just been hiding." finished the other, "They're not as stupid as everyone thinks."

"Dodo's are still in a lot of muggle literature though." said Hugo, "Have you heard of _Alice in Wonderland?_ "

I took that as a cue to leave. Once Hugo started talking about books, he never shut up.

"Okay...we'll be going now." I said as I tackled Hugo in a chokehold and ruffled his hair, "Bye bye, nerd!"

"Hey! Go away!" said Hugo indignantly, wriggling like a little worm.

"You're no fun." I said as Al and I left. Lily stayed with Hugo (of course).

* * *

Miraculously, there was still an empty compartment, and Hugo and I slipped in immediately.

"When do you think the trolley's coming?" I asked, "I'm starving!"

"You're always starving!" laughed Albus.

We fell into a comfortable silence. I took out _A Raisin in the Sun_ , a very odd play written by an American. It was about a black family that lived in Chicago in the mid 1900s. It kinda reminds me of how Dad described life at the Burrow when he was little. Dad said his family were actually quite poor when he was a kid, even though we're well off now. I guess there are some perks to being a war hero.

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open and a blond head perked in inquisitively.

"Hey there's no more seats, can we-"

I looked up and cocked an eyebrow when I saw that it was none other than Scorpius bloody Malfoy and some short tan boy (I think it was Christopher Nott?) standing right outside the compartment.

"Er...never mind." said Malfoy quickly as he turned away.

"You can sit if want, Sc-Malfoy." said Al.

Wait a sec...was Albus about to call him by his first name?

"Uh, it's fine." he said, with a somewhat imperceptible flick of his eyes towards me.

"Scared, Malfoy?" I taunted. (Why did I do that? That was incredibly immature.)

"You wish, Weasley." he snapped back.

"I don't wish, I know."

"You know nothing."

"I'm sure that's why I was top of the class?"

"Excuse you, but I was top of the class last year."

"Nope. I scored three points higher on the Herbology final exam. I even did the math."

"Did the-"

" _Math_...wouldn't expect a pureblood snob to ever hear of it."

"I know what math is! And you and I both know that you only got those extra points because Longbottom likes you more."

"Well you haven't done anything to make yourself more likeable to anyone!"

"You little-"

"Okay!" said Albus loudly, "You need to stop it."

I glanced at him. Was he directing that irritated glare at me or Malfoy? Because honestly, I started it, but Al should've been my side anyways...

"Thanks for the pleasant company," drawled Malfoy as he strutted away, "But I'll be leaving."

"Don't take your time!" I called before hastily slamming the compartment door shut.

Albus sighed at me. "You just couldn't resist having the last word, could you?"

"Sorry! But he's just so...so...UGH!"

Then I glanced up and Albus was giving me the most unnerving smirk.

"What?" I snapped.

"Nothing." he said, schooling his face into something more pleasant, "You're just funny when you get angry."

"Trust a Slytherin to laugh at someone else's frustration."

"Yup." replied Albus simply before he too took out a book.

It wasn't until much later that I realized he was smirking at me for a different reason.

* * *

After we arrived at Hogwarts, Albus went off to the Slytherin table, Molly went to Hufflepuff, and Hugo and Dominique went off to Ravenclaw. The rest of us were all Gryffindor.

The Sorting seemed to crawl past at a torturously slow rate. Every couple seconds, my stomach would emit a mortifyingly loud rumble that turned heads. I simply shrugged. It wasn't my fault the Sorting Hat had to take so long to carefully consider where to place all the midgets. And it wasn't even completely accurate half the time!

I yawned and concentrated on thinking about anything but my imploding stomach. It didn't work. I sighed huffily and watched the sorting commence as the deputy headmaster called out the list of first years. I recognized some of the names as siblings of my classmates, or children of mum's colleagues. And then there were some I didn't recognize. Perhaps those were muggleborns-

"Christina Cram!"

The hat sat on her head for a few seconds before declaring

"SLYTHERIN!"

The girl got up and looked like she was marching to her death.

Jeez, what was so bad about Slytherin house? Well, other than the fact that everyone judges and hates on them arbitrarily. But Slytherins aren't _that_ bad anymore. Students would choose to be in any other house, and the numbers in Slytherin have shrunk maybe forty percent or so from the first wizarding war, but most of the kids are still somewhat tolerable.

My cousin Al is in Slytherin and he's a little angel.

I think.

At least he appears to be a little angel, though my aunt and uncle say he's unnervingly manipulative and witty, like both of his namesakes.

"Seymour Dursley!"

I looked up in alarm. The kid sitting on the stool was a little chubby with brown hair and light brown freckles and very plain features. Did they call him "Dursley"? I could've sworn I heard the name somewhere, and not in good context either. I looked around and noted that much of my family mirrored my expression of deep contemplation. So I guess I wasn't the only one.

Suddenly, I heard a faint gasp from the Hufflepuff table. I looked over and saw that my cousin Molly had covered her mouth in shock.

"What is it, Molly?" shouted James (obnoxiously loud, I might add).

Heads turned.

"Your dad's cousin!" said Molly, sitting straight and recollecting her self-importance, "Wasn't his name Dursley too?"

"Dad's... _Merlin!_ " said James, right as the sorting hat cried out, "RAVENCLAW!"

"Do you think that's Uncle Harry's nephew then?" I asked, watching this "Seymour Dursley" kid walk nervously to the Ravenclaw table. He didn't look extremely thrilled to be learning magic, for some reason, which is odd because Ravenclaws are supposed to be super annoyingly curious about everything.

It seems my cousin Molly decided to be extremely friendly, even from where she sat at the end of the Hufflepuff table. Not that it was surprising; she was like a mother hen to her housemates and our entire family, despite being the fourth oldest. Victoire was three years older than her, and Teddy was a few years older than Victoire, but they were both too absorbed with each other to care about the rest of us. Well...at least Victoire was too absorbed with Teddy, but Teddy was actually pretty awesome and paid attention to the rest of us. I guess he's kinda like a cool uncle, but much younger. He's only twenty this year!

Finally, Lily was called up, and the hat sat on her head for a solid minute before calling out "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily looked very relieved. I bet she was scared that she'd be a Slytherin like Al.

After ten more students, the sorting was finally over. I could've cried with relief. I haven't eaten anything since those few measly Chocolate frogs on the train four hours ago. With the arrival of food and friends, I completely forgot about Dursley and everything else.

* * *

Later we went to our common room and I played exploding snap with some of my friends before going to bed. I couldn't wait until we get our schedules tomorrow! I signed up for as many courses as I could, just like mom suggested. (Except for divination because it's stupid, and muggle studies because I probably know more muggle stuff than the teacher.)

A feeling of contentment washed over me as I burrowed into the bedsheets in my dorm. It felt nice to be back at Hogwarts.

* * *

a/n: Review plz!


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: first day of classes. Now comes Rose's terrible personality.

* * *

I cannot believe it.

I cannot fucking believe it.

I nearly incinerated my breakfast from my sheer irritation and disbelief. Today is the first day of school and I have double frickin' Potions followed by History of Magic and then bloody double Arithmancy. The only laid back class was Charms at the end of the day. Then, I have to go to the astronomy tower at eleven o'clock at night to stare at bunch of useless constellations. What was the point in learning that? To find inspiration for the names for my offspring in case I marry into the extinct Black family? (Actually, the whole star namesake thing may not be extinct because I think _Scorpius_ might be a constellation but _why_ am I even thinking about that and wasting my brain juice on Malfoy? Ugh.)

This has got to be the crappiest first day of school I've ever had. And half my classes were with the Slytherins!

What.

The.

 _Bloody._

 _HELL!_

At least I get to have classes with Albus. He's probably the only tolerable Slytherin I've ever met. I hope I get partnered with him instead of Malfoy for potions this year; last year, pasty-face and I were the best potions students so we were always put together for projects, which was obviously the dumbest thing the teacher could've possibly done. I mean seriously! Did she think anything good could come out of partnering the most antagonistic, moody teenagers in the whole class?

In the end, we always did our work individually. It was technically twice the workload, but it sure beat having to collaborate, or even look at Malfoy.

You know, it was actually quite odd how much I seemed to despise him. When did that even start...?

Oh yeah. The day I went to platform Nine-and-three-quarters my first year at Hogwarts, our family caught sight of Draco Malfoy (Mom, dad, and Uncle Harry's nemesis at school) and a pasty little kid who looked like Malfoy Sr.'s carbon copy, minus the haggard eyes and receding hairline.

"So that's little Scorpius." said Dad as bent down and pointed at him, "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank god you inherited your mother's brains."

So I met eye to eye with _Scorpius_ (and what the fuck kind of a dumb name is that anyways) and smirked, and he was the first to look away, which dad claims to be a sign of insecurity, so I was so SURE I would get kick his academic bollocks!

But I didn't beat him.

The first test we took in transfiguration, and I scored one point lower than him. I only got two points above one hundred for _I don't know what reason_ , and Malfoy got three points above one hundred. HOW IN THE CRAPPING HELL DID HE GET MORE POINTS THAN ME!? His extra credit looked exactly like mine, and I got everything on the regular test right! I was so sure I scored highest in the class, so I made the mistake of bragging about my grade before asking him how _he_ did. He turned his smug little ferret face towards me and announced that he did better.

To the entire class.

I will never live that moment down. Since then, I made it my life's goal to be number one! Being better than Malfoy was so significant to my life it was almost like an obsession, which wouldn't've been so bad if my stupid-arse family would stop teasing me about it.

Speaking of which...

"Hey Rose," said an insolent voice at my right, "You looked particularly pissed this morning."

"I am, James! I am!" I said impatiently before waving my schedule in his face, "Look at how crappy my schedule is!"

"Well cry me a river." said Louis as he loaded his plate with food, "At least you don't have History of Magic followed by Divination."

"If divination sucks so much, then you should've taken arithmancy." I said before shoving an entire egg in my mouth self righteously.

"Uh...no. I'm actually too smart for that class." deadpanned Louis with a slightly disdainful expression. Hmmf. Snob. I bet he wouldn't take such offense to my perfectly normal eating habits if Aunt Fleur weren't his mum.

"Yrmhrmm..." I mumbled sarcastically through a mouthful of eggs.

"Sup." said Fred suddenly, plopping into the seat besides Louis, across the table, while Lily followed behind and sat next to me.

"Ew, _Rose_." said Lily, "Don't eat like that!"

"What?" I asked, swallowing in a giant gulp, "I'm being a normal human being!"

"Rose is definitely the most normal human I've ever met." said Fred in a very serious tone of voice.

"Such human." said James, "Much normal."

"Probably same level of normalness as Malfoy even!"

"Hey. Excuse you!" I snapped, "It's too early in the morning for Malfoy."

"It's never too early for Malfoy."

"It's always too early for Malfoy."

"Aw...she's getting all defensive..." smirked Fred.

"I wonder why that is?" added James.

"Maybe she's not ready to grow up and have a -"

"LALALALALA!" I shouted, plugging my ears as I grabbed my bags and a few pieces of toast, "Shut up, I can't hear you! I'm off to the library!"

"So you can beat Malfoy on the first test- OW!" yelped James.

I turned around to see that Lily had slapped him in the arm.

"James Sirius Potter!"

(Oh boy. Lily's gonna try to defend my honor now.)

"You should be ashamed of yourself! At least Rose's trying to do well in school! What are _you_ doing? Playing pranks all the time! You are a mean, irresponsible bully." said Lily, scolding him with an unnerving likeness to grandma Weasley. Which I appreciate somewhat, but it sounded pretty lame. Lily was always a little self righteous.

But whatever.

I snorted on my way out. Her voice was lost in the chatter, and the chatter faded as I exited the Great Hall and walked around Hogwarts by myself.

I normally loved being around my family, but I guess on the first day of the semester away from my first home, I was feeling a bit contemplative. And overwhelmed. I can't believe I've been here three years already. It felt like yesterday when I boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time. And now, I've only got four more years before I have to go into the world and become a functional adult.

Which is downright terrifying.

I'm not ready to be an adult! I just want to go back to being a firstie, where there were no pressures or expectations for anything! (well, minus the bit about being the heirs of war heroes. That was pretty stressful. But the media kinda got over it by the time my third year rolled around since Teddy and James and everyone diffused their attention somewhat.)

I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling as I walked, high arches of old, dark bricks, basking in the stillness of the castle. There was nobody here, and the watery morning light shone out of the old panes in the glass windows, reflecting off dust motes and heating the cool stone floors. It was relaxing. For a moment, I could let by brain be utterly, blissfully blank.

I closed my eyes and kept walking forwards-

 _"Oof!"_

I suddenly collided with a very short person who felt kinda like a small walrus, and nearly tumbled to the ground. Papers scattered all around me as my bag flew onto the floor. I fumed when I saw a small, black, rapidly expanding splotch on the side where my ink well probably started leaking.

"What the fu-"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" said the small walrus-child in a rush, ducking his head and scurrying to pick up all the parchment and books on the floor.

I examined him; he was in Ravenclaw colors and had mousy hair and a few freckles.

He looked oddly familiar. And a firstie too. I probably saw him at the sorting...

"Hey, are you that Dursley kid?" I asked as he handed me my things.

"U-uh...yeah..."

"Is Harry your uncle?"

"Second uncle." he corrected quickly.

 _Hff. Smartarse._

"Yeah yeah, big difference." I said irritably.

I dunno why I was so irritable though; it would be quite hypocritical since I was also prone to correcting people over nitpicky little details.

"Sorry." he said dejectedly.

Sorry.

SORRY?

Why the crap was he apologizing? I've talked to him for about ten seconds and he already said sorry twice! He's just like my brother, awkwardly polite. From the way Uncle Harry described Dudley and his uncle (Vernon, or as I like to say, _Vermin_ ), I thought his kid would've been a little shit. But I guess shittiness doesn't run in _every_ family ( _coughcough_ like Malfoy).

"S'alright." I said nonchalantly, "So wanna tell me why a little firstie is wandering around alone during breakfast?"

"Oh. I went to the bathroom and got lost." he said, scratching the back of his head, "Can you please tell me where the cafeteria is?"

"No." I deadpanned, just to see his reaction. (I know, I'm a terrible person.)

"O-okay?" he said, looking a little sad and confused and holy crap he looks like a little squishy teddy bear. How come we didn't get to talk to our fat little cousin earlier?

"I'm just kidding, dude." I said, "C'mon, I can walk back with you."

"Thanks?" he said in confusion (was he stupid or something?) as he scurried behind.

But before he could enter, the morning bell rang, announcing the end of breakfast.

"Crap." said Dursley, "I didn't get to finish my breakfast."

The doors slammed open and a flood of kids started coming out.

"Here," I said, thrusting a napkin of toast in his hand, "Take this and find your housemates before you get lost again."

"Thanks!" he said brightly before being swept up by the crowd of tall teenagers.

I smirked and headed to my first class, feeling like I'd done some good in the world.

* * *

My good mood quickly vanished as I sprinted down the dungeon corridors with less than a minute to spare before my first class. I can't believe I forgot that the Potion's classroom had been relocated to a higher floor this year! There was even a note on my schedule and it was extraordinarily unobservant for me not to notice!

About three and a quarter seconds before class started, I burst into the potions room like a cannonball of flapping robes and puffy red hair. The bell rang right after my grand entrance, and I pumped my fist in triumph, disregarding the incredulous stares of the entire class.

Kudos to me for not being late on the first day.

"So kind of you to join us, Miss Weasley." said the Potion's professor with a slightly dry smile (I think).

"Sorry. Didn't realize the classroom moved." I shrugged, slightly out of breath.

"It was written on your schedule, Rose." piped up Mariah (the prissy) McLaggen unhelpfully.

"I know! I know!" I said, resisting the urge to give her a good hex in the face.

I think mum mentioned that she was _acquainted_ (whatever the hell that means) with Mariah's father at one point in her sixth year. Said she hated his guts.

I guess the abominated guts run in the family.

I scanned the room, looking for an open seat, preferably next to Al...

"Please take a seat Miss Weasley." said the teacher with a slight edge to her voice.

"Sorry." I muttered looking for the only available seat. Which was next to Malfoy.

 _Dammit._

I glared at Al murderously for not saving me a spot. He was sitting in the table next to Malfoy, with Colleen Williams as a partner. He looked at me unrepentantly, like it was actually my own fault I was almost late. Which it wasn't.

I dunno who's fault it was, but it's not mine.

" _Please take a seat Miss Weasley._ " repeated the teacher with slightly more inflection.

I huffed and sat down, pausing only to give Malfoy a quick glare before taking out my potions book.

"Good. Welcome to Fourth Year Potions!" said the teacher in a disgustingly peppy tone of voice, "These will be your partners for the rest of the semester, so do try to get along!"

I groaned internally. Of course this would happen. Of course.

But at least it was only until the end of the semester, so I would only have to work with pasty-face until Christmas. Which was still a stupidly long time, but hey, better than a whole year, right?

"I'm sure you all know common protocol for the potions room, so we'll get right into our warm up." said the Professor, "Please write down three potions you brewed last year and their ingredients, and a short summary of the properties of each of the ingredients. We will review in fifteen minutes!"

I huffed and took out a quill and parchment, still feeling pissy about the fact that I was stuck with Malfoy again.

"Here, let me write." sad Malfoy suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because my handwriting is legible." he said, snatching the parchment from my hands.

"Get your own parchment then." I said.

"It's just a piece for crying out loud," snapped Malfoy, "You can get parchment for free at Hogwarts."

"Then ask the teacher for one." I said, just for the sake of being antagonistic.

"What's your problem?"

"What's _your_ problem?"

"Hey!" barked the teacher, "Are you two being productive?"

"Yes." said Malfoy as he quickly scribbled down the ingredients for the shrinking solution.

I peered over his annoyingly broad shoulders and huffed, "The Daisy roots have to be _minced_ , not chopped."

"What's the difference?" he muttered.

"Mincing is a lot finer than chopping."

"Well-"

"Hey, can you two lovebirds shut up?" said Christopher Nott from the table in front of us.

"No. Screw you." I snapped as my face started to flush red.

In anger, mind you.

ANGER.

Red is the color of wrath.

Damn my stupid tomato-face Weasley genes.

"Chris, turn around and do your work." said Scorpius with a roll of his eyes. He turned and looked at my face and then turned back to the parchment with a smirk.

I scowled and became redder and prepared myself for a terribly long half year of potions.

* * *

As soon as the bell rang, I hopped out of my seat and exited the room to escape from ferret face as soon as possible. I could almost feel Malfoy's face screw into an indignant expression. Hmph. Not my fault that he has the most irksome presence in the class.

"Hey Rose." said a voice to my right.

"Hey Al." I replied disagreeably, turning around to walk with him, "Nice of you to save me a seat!"

"Sorry." he said without a trace of repentance, "It was hard keeping people away when I have such a _magnetic_ personality, you know."

I let out a rather loud snort. Magnetic my arse. Al was the most quiet a reserved kid, and speculation about him died down rather quickly, much quicker than it did about James. James had always been the most outgoing in the family, and he absolutely thrived in the limelight. He and Fred both could keep a crowd entertained for hours with nothing but words.

Uncle George often looked at them with a very wistful, bittersweet expression. I guess they kinda remind Uncle George of himself and Uncle Fred, who passed away during the Second Wizarding War. I was always a little sad about never meeting Uncle Fred, or never being able to see Uncle Fred and Uncle George working in tandem. My dad said they were literally a single living entity, and about three times more wild and brilliant and irksome as James and Fred together, if that's even possible. In fact, he said Uncle George now is downright boring compared to how he was before the war.

But that doesn't mean he's _boring_ boring. He's still probably the most interesting of all of my Uncles, but there's always a slight reservedness in his face, like there's something inside that he doesn't want to, or doesn't know how to express. Sometimes, he still flits his eyes to his right, or makes an inside joke, or cuts short a sentence by accident, as if expecting someone else to finish. I guess he's still got the connection that nobody but twins could hope to share, and never fades even if one half is gone forever.

I wonder if the Scamanders are like that? I mean, I can't imagine them being cool and playing pranks like Uncle George and Fred, but they probably still have that special twinny connection. Does Hugo feel left out then, whenever he's with them? I'm always a little concerned about my little brother. He's so shy you know, and he doesn't have many friends. (But seriously, if he only had the capacity to be friends with two other humans on the face of the planet, why would he choose the _Scamanders_ of all people? They're so _weird_.)

"Uh, Rose?"

"Hmm?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts. As per usual. I tended to daydream a lot to figure out stuff about people or my schoolwork or whatever. A habit similar to Mum, as Dad often reminds me of. Except Mum could actually afford to zone out in class because she could still listen with half an ear because she's actually quite a lot smarter and better at multitasking than me which makes me feel extremely incompetent. It's pretty tragic, isn't it? I don't think I could ever live up to my family's legacy.

At my age, Uncle Harry had won the Triwizard Tournament. At Hugo's age, Mum successfully brewed Polyjuice in secret without any guidance from teachers or adults at all. And Lily's age, Dad had won a chess match against a monstrous chess board that _McGonagall_ created, without killing Mum or Uncle Harry who were _pawns_. I mean, imagine how stressful that must be! If any of my best friends had even a remote possibility of dying, I would be shitting cauldrons!

"ROSE."

"Yeah? I was listening." I said glibly, turning to my side.

Al wasn't there.

"You just walked right past the classroom." said Al's voice from behind me. I halted in the middle of the hallway and turned around slowly.

Oops.

Al rolled his eyes and walked into the history classroom and I scurried behind with a pout of embarrassment.

* * *

 _Finally,_ I thought as I rushed out to lunch with Al. History of Magic has got to be the most useless class ever. What was I ever going to use all various title of Goblin insurgents for? Small talk and family bonding?

Honestly though, imagine what a dinner conversation would be like if all we talked about was goblins?

" _Oh my day was brilliant, pass the peas please. By the way_ _mum and dad,_ _you wanna know something great? Dorius the Diligent learned how to speak twelve languages and tricked sphinxes into killing people by giving them riddles that had no answer. Isn't that so interesting? Isn't it?"_

Pfft. So dumb.

I snapped out of my thoughts when my growling stomach reminded me of the necessity of food. Enthusiastically, I shoveled a pile of mashed potatoes onto my plate and ate with hasty fervor.

I wanted to finish eating and get to the library as quickly as possible and start my homework early now that I have a syllabus for some of my classes. Besides, I need time later this week to practice flying for Quidditch. Tryouts were in two weeks. Of course, I've been practicing basic stuff as often as I could over the, but I couldn't really do anything useful since I lived near Exmouth, where there are tons of Muggles around that could see me. The Statute of Secrecy was so stupid!

"Say, James," I said absently, "What d'you think life would be like if we didn't have to hide from muggles?"

James stared at me with a quirked eyebrow. After a pause, he said, "That was random."

"Yeah, well I'm a random person." I bit back in reply, "Now what do you think?"

"I think it'd be brilliant!" said James, "I mean, imagine being able to do whatever we want! We could apparate, or use our watches properly, or _fly_..."

"Yeah, it's almost worth it to break the Statute, huh?" I said.

"Aw...look at 'ikkle Rosie," said Fred, elbowing James in the side, "Learning to be mature 'ikkle troublemaker-"

"Oh shut up with the ' _ikkle Rosie_ crap," I snapped halfheartedly, "I'm only one year younger than you."

"Too bad your brain is about ten years younger than ours." said James with a cocky grin, "And-"

"WELL," I said, standing off with flourish, "I am off to the library!"

"Still trying to beat Malfoy?" asked Louis cheekily.

"I don't need to _try_ to beat him." I huffed, nose in the air.

I strode off before anyone could get another word in, not caring about how conceited I must've sounded.

* * *

To my surprise, there were actually other people in the library on the _first day of school_ , and all sitting out in the front too.

In the comfy couches near the center, my cousin Dominique and her little posse sat and talked about Merlin knows what. Probably something dumb.

Actually, that's not true. Dominique's actually quite smart, despite her model-worthy blond hair and perfectly groomed appearance; she's in Ravenclaw after all. I just think she's just too ridiculously….perfect. Like an unnerving kind of perfect (though I guess that's not surprising since Aunt Fleur is part veela).

Her teeth were never crooked, she had a subtle golden tan year round, she's a hundred eighty centimeters, and skinny, and curvy, and her hair was long and perfectly straight and naturally coppery, pinkish blond, unlike mine, which is like a dry, kinky and flamboyantly orange bird nest. And she always got near perfect grades, and she's Head Girl, and she's been Ravenclaw Quidditch captain since fifth year, and she was super charming, but still managed to act cool as a fucking cucumber. It's like she was born perfect.

She's almost as annoying as Victoire. Although Dom didn't have as many boys chasing after her, since she's too tall and smart and athletic to _not_ be intimidating. She didn't really mind scaring off boys though. Hmm.

Despite how annoying Dom was, I didn't really dislike her brother, Louis, who's also a prefect, and a fifth year Gryffindor like James and Fred. Perhaps it's because he's a bit more wild and fun. Although that could just be a side effect of hanging around with James and Fred too much. I dunno. I just find it kinda odd that he's part veela and a male as well. I didn't even know that as possible! But thank god Louis only attracts girls; I would find it too odd if flocks of boys started flirting with him too. I dunno why, but I always felt very wary of boys approaching any of my family members. Girls are okay, but if I even think about some asshat dude making a move on Lily or Roxanne, I get super...wary I guess. But they're twelve too, so I guess that plays a role.

Just then, something caught my eye and I looked up.

Oh.

It's the Dursley midget. Waving at me and holding some kind of a flat rectangular thing.

"Hi, um, Rose." he said.

I looked at him oddly. Why did he call me by the first name? We don't know each other nearly well enough to be on first name basis. Or maybe we do sin'ce we're family and all that.

"What's going on, _Dursley_?" I asked pointedly. He looked put off and I immediately felt a bit bad.

"Uh, I have a question," he said, before finagling with a button on the side of his flat rectangle thingy. I peered over.

"Yeah?" I prompted.

"Do you know the wifi password?" he asked, holding the rectangle thing for me, "And do you have a charger? I left mine in my dormitory and I can't find an outlet in there and."

 _"Wait, what is being charged? And what do you want to let out?_ _And what the fuck is a why fye..."_

...is what I should've said. But I didn't want to look stupid so I just took the rectangle thing over and poked a button on it. To my surprise, it purred a little and lit up with a little rectangle with some red stuff at one end! Bloody hell, did the muggles discover magic or something? I turned the thing over and there was a picture on the back that looked like an apple with a bite taken out of it.

"Uh...why do you need a uh, charger?" I asked dubiously.

"'Cuz I need to call my mum and dad." he said, as if it was obvious or somethin-

Wait. Wait, _call?_ Don't muggles use a telephone to call people? But why isn't this rectangle telephone connected to anything? Grandpa Arthur said muggles use a little voice box with a tunnel to connect the telephones, kinda like extendable ears. Maybe the tunnel is the outlet that the Dursley midget is looking for?

"Do you know what a phone is?" asked Dursley suddenly, interrupting my thoughts.

"Of course!" I said indignantly, "My family doesn't live under a rock you know!"

"Oh. Sorry if that was offensive!" he replied, "My dad said magic folk are not very...technological."

"It's fine." I replied, immediately catching on to the fact that Dursley's father didn't look at our _untechnologicality_ with much favor, "But you're uh...phone...probably isn't going to work here because of the magic anyway."

"Darn! My mum and dad are probably worrying about me right now!"

"Hey, you can always write them a letter, you know." I said.

"But they don't like birds." said Dursley.

"Yeah, well there's no other-"

Suddenly, I saw the library doors open and Al and _MALFOY_ coming in?

What was Al doing with Malfoy? I thought they despised each other!

Or actually, maybe not. I don't really ever see Al with other people much at all; most of the time, if we're not in class, he hangs out with me or smart people from Ravenclaw or something. He said he doesn't really like the other Slytherins, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Who would?

I mean, Slytherin house "redeemed" themselves after the war and everything, but I still dunno anything that goes on in there; the Slytherins are so _closed-mouthed_ about anything interesting! They're just like dad described from his own years at Hogwarts: cultish, conniving, and reserved. They never chat without an ulterior motive. They never laugh openly. They always form these dumb little groups of leaders and followers and they're so _SUCKISH!_

Well, except for Al. Al is okay. But he won't be for okay for long if he keeps hanging out around Malfoy!

"Hey Rose, what were you saying about a letter?" said Dursley, giving me an annoying little poke in the arm.

"Hang on a sec." I replied briskly, standing up to see ( _spy_ ) what the hell Al and Malfoy are up to.

Squatting behind a bookshelf with my orange hair tied back, I could probably peek at them pretty subtly from the gaps between the books. I squinted and focused my glare on Al's back. He and Malfoy were sitting at opposite sides of the table, and if I narrowed my ears, I could just barely hear….

"...but it's not!" said the voice of Al, a little indignantly.

"How could it not be magic?" replied Malfoy, "The Doctor is fixing stuff a non-muggle way and-"

"But the muggles have explanations of it, and besides, _they_ didn't know about magic when they created the series."

"But I'm saying, they might've unintentionally created a magical universe. I mean think about it, they've got time travel."

"It's not meant to be magic though."

"But it follows most of our magical laws, and that police box could totally be a time-turner or portkey."

" _Hey Rose!_ " whispered a voice next to me.

I nearly let out a shriek and tipped over a row of books in my shock! I turned and saw the bloody _Dursley_ midget crouching beside me, observing Al and ferret face, and somehow managing to sneak up without me noticing at all! I glowered but he appeared not to notice.

"Are they talking about _Dr. Who_!?" he asked in an excited tone of voice.

"Wait...Dr. _Who?_ " I asked.

He glanced over curiously. "Have you seriously never heard of _Dr. Who_?" asked Dursley incredulously, "I thought you just said your family doesn't live under a rock!"

"Shush!" I hissed.

Instead of listening to me, he stood up and started walking away with a bounce in his step (the little shit).

"Where are you go...Hey don't talk to them!" I whispered.

"Why? _I_ like Dr. Who, and _they_ like Dr. Who." he said impertinently, "So I don't see the problem with talking with them."

"Yeah, but at least wait until I'm..."

I paused. And listened.

Al and Malfoy's voices had stopped. I peeked cautiously between the books again, and started to panic when I saw two pairs of eyes trained on me.

"Uh...Rose?" asked Al _very_ awkwardly.

"Actually, I'm Lily!" I said in a sad attempt at a prepubescent voice, "I'm...um...helping Hugo research...uh...nargles?"

The books hiding my face suddenly tumbled out and landed in my lap in a painful heap. Malfoy had his wand out.

"Hey, watch it!" I snapped.

"Were you spying on us?" he asked with a smug expression like Christmas had come early.

"No! I was…"

(Oh boy. I'm gonna have to throw Dursley under the bus here)

"I was following him!" I said, snatching the first year over and shaking him slightly. Then I stuffed a chocolate frog in his hand.

"Why-"

"He had candy!" I said hastily, "Candy isn't allowed in the library!"

"Rose," said Al with what appeared to be barely suppressed amusement, "That was a terrible lie."

I huffed.

"Who's that with you?" asked Malfoy suspiciously.

I turned to pull Dursley over, but to my surprise, he was already scurrying around the bookshelf to meet my cousin and ferret face. I slapped my forehead and followed suit.

"Hi I'm Seymour!" he said, holding out his hand like a small and socially inept businessman.

Al shook his hand with a quirky half smile.

"I'm Al, and that's Scorpius." he said as Dursley moved on the shake hands with Malfoy.

To my surprise, Malfoy actually shook his hand quite genially, with perhaps a hint of a patronizing smirk.

"That's a cool name." said Dursley with wide eyed enthusiasm, "That's like a name from World of Warcraft!"

"What's that?" asked Malfoy with a lifted eyebrow.

"Oh. I guess wizards don't have that." said Dursley, "It's a game and I thought you guys would know about it since you have Dr. Who and whatever."

"Actually, most wizards don't know about Dr. Who," said Al, scratching the back of his head, "I only know about it because I was babysitting my muggle neighbor's kid and I watched some on their Telly."

"What?" I asked in surprise. Al never told me about that! Did Al tell Malfoy? Why would he tell Malfoy and not me? I glared.

"Sorry Rose," said Al as he looked at my glare sheepishly, "I didn't think you'd be interested in it. It's about time travel and outer space and stuff."

"Well I'd be more interested than _him_." I said, rolling my eyeballs towards ferret face.

"For your information, I find it quite interesting." said Malfoy with a small scowl.

"Me too!" said Dursley, rudely shoving his way into my argument, "How far are you guys in it? Did you watch the original ones or the remakes or both?"

"Uh… I don't know?" said Al, giving me a questioning look. I could tell he was a little puzzled by Dursley as well. I can't blame him though; our little cousin was very odd, and I could not for the life of me figure out why he would be in Ravenclaw. Uncle Harry had said his cousin Dudley was quite stupid and spoiled, though I guess Dudley must've cleaned up his act, since his son is actually quite...nice. And cute, though I expect I won't think he's cute anymore when he stops being a chubby ten-year-old.

"Oh. I guess you guys aren't that far in then?" said Dursley, looking a bit dejected by the fact that two _Slytherin Wizards_ didn't watch that much of a muggle television show.

Personally, I can't believe that Al and _Malfoy_ are leaving lunch early, just to talk about a _muggle television show._ I mean, what the hell? Who does that?

Suddenly, the bell rang and I jumped and let out an undignified squeak like a dying mouse or something. Al and Malfoy were looking at me with amusement and I scowled and marched back to the couch in the center of the library where I left my bag.

"Hey Rose." said Al, standing behind me. I looked up, glad that he'd manage to shake off Malfoy. I also noticed Dursley walking out of the library doors and immediately greeting someone.

LILY.

How did he manage to make friends with Lily already? She wasn't even in his house! He'd better not make a move on her...oh wait, they're cousins. That's really gross.

Then, I noticed Hugo walking with them as well! That makes more sense. Hugo was in Ravenclaw, and he knows a lot about muggle books, so he might know something about whatever the hell Dursley was interested in, which makes me feel kinda guilty because I should know more that Hugo since I'm his big sister. But you know what? I actually know very little about my family members! Especially the non-Gryffindor ones! I really know nothing about Molly, Dom, Hugo, or Albus.

Shame on me. I need to start getting to know everyone better. Especially Albus.

"Hey Al," I said as we left the library to go to our last class, "Do you like Slytherin house?"

Al furrowed his brow a little.

"Yeah, I guess." he said, "I mean, I didn't think I'd like it at first, but it got better as I got older. It's actually pretty tightly knit in there."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone in Slytherin kind of...works together." said Al, "It's really hard to explain, but it's like everyone is competing, but helping each other at the same time."

"That's weird!" I said with a frown, "I always though Slytherins were super...catty."

"Catty?" snorted Al,"You make it sound like we're a house of spoiled teenage girls."

"That's not what _you_ are?" I smirked, though I felt a bit alarmed as he referred to Slytherin house as 'we,' meaning that he counts himself as a Slytherin which is REALLY BAD because Slytherins are evil!

Well...Actually they're not, but whatever.

"No, that's what _you_ are." retorted Al jokingly, interrupting my train of thought, "And the maturity of your comment proves it."

"Does that mean you're friends with Malfoy?"

Al glanced at me with a bit of calculating look in his eyes. It was unnerving.

"Where'd that come from?" he asked.

"I dunno." I said quickly.

"He doesn't suck _that_ much, you know." said Al with a smirk, I think? It's really quite difficult to read his facial expressions sometimes.

"Well _I_ think he's bloody awful." I said indignantly.

"That's cuz he's as smart as you." said Al a bit dismissively.

" **No he's not.** "

"Jeez, fine. No need to get so defensive."

"I'm not defensive!"

"If you say so...Ow!" he yelped as I punched him in the arm. He deserved it, being so patronizing when he's only a few months older than me!

We fell into a comfortable silence as the hallways around buzzed with chatter.

"Hey Rose," said Al randomly as I stopped in front of the charms room, "Doesn't this year feel odd to you?"

"What?"

"Like something big is about to happen."

"Uh...like what?"

"Never mind." said Al, walking off to his own class, "See you later!"

"Wait!" I snapped.

He kept walking.

What was that all about? I turned away in confusion.

* * *

a/n: Got a bit lazy at the end of the chapter. Heheh.

I never watched Dr. Who, but it seems like the kind of muggle thing that super nerdy wizards would be into. I kinda wanted to make Dudley's son the antithesis of Dudley as a child, which probably isn't that believable but whatever. 180 cm is about 6 feet.

Review please!


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